The change was strange enough as it was.
As soon as Tucker and Sam finally left for the evening, he locked himself in his room for a little self inspection.
Carefully crawling onto the bed, Danny stripped off his shirt and pressed his hand to his chest. It was something there, near his heart, that kept shuddering whenever he was upset. Still now, the anxious feeling of "what just happened?" and "How could I even tell if something was wrong?" was burbling inside him, shaking up that weird little spot of self-awareness.
He prodded it physically, massaging the weird little spot that rested just under his sternum. Remembering one of those internet informational videos he had seen a few days ago, Danny tried to envision "chakras" and exhaled.
Head, neck, chest... He imagined energy flowing down through them, pushing toward that spot near his- ha!
He exhaled sharply as something in his abdomen crackled, eyes flying open and fingers pressing at the spot in hopes that he didn't actually break something.
The light seemed to start just below his solar plexus, shining red through his skin for a split second before expanding white and rushing over him. The cold weighlessness seemed to buoy him up on the mattress, energy rippling through his veins, marrow, an uncomfortable sensation in his gut as something shifted.
He lay frozen for a moment, before pushing himself back onto his elbows and giving his body a good look.
It was certainly strange, to see his outfit suddenly different, even more strange to see the faint white glow. Danny lifted a hand to his face, flexing his fingers and watching the odd aura overlap and brighten as he concentrated on it.
He gave a quiet giggle, trying to ignore the way the sound was edging into hysteria.
Danny laid back down, trying to concentrate on his breathing. It was near his heart that made the change happen, right? What if he just drew the energy back toward it? It would change him back, right?
He just pulled it in, and-
That was... odd.
He tried wiggling his toes, launching himself back up as he didn't feel a response.
His... His legs! He grabbed forward, feeling the breath punch out of him when his hands sank through the rippling mist. Yanking them back, he patted down his body, trying to find where his 'self' ended, and this rippling fog began.
His fingers found an edge, and Danny stopped.
Gently, slowly, he smoothed his palms down over the edge, feeling taut muscles turn into a soft mush, then dissipate into a black cloud. He swallowed dryly, that uncomfortable shivery feeling still rattling inside his chest.
Fingers sank into the mist, scooping it up and watching the wisps wriggle like living things to get back to the main body of it. Of...him.
Exhale.
He tucked his fingers into it, reaching...around.
Oh fuck.
Not really aware of the faint whine he could feel sneaking through his throat, Danny was practically numb with shock as he could reach under the white line of his waist, could feel the slight wiggle of his fingers pressing up against whatever lay inside his abdomen.
It wasn't organs, he couldn't feel any bones or solid mass... just...goo.
Looking down at himself, everything stopped when he saw the faint imprint of his own fingers pushing up from inside his hazmat, like some horror movie parasite trying to burst free.
Yanking his hand out, Danny whipped around, burying his face into a pillow and desperately tried not to shake apart with the screams. Joints ached in his fingers with the way he clutched at his mattress, every line of his body tight and shivering. He gasped into the fabric, the motion shattering into helpless choking sobs when he realized he couldn't even feel any lungs moving in his chest.
Some awareness came from the thrashing semisolid tail that his legs had become, some sort of feedback about what it was touching, how it was moving. Danny held his hands to his chest, not daring to touch himself again. He stared at the tail, how it wiggled without his direction.
He tried to push energy back down his waist, watching with paranoid eyes as the mist shivered, splitting apart and condensing back into bone, muscle, and black hazmat. He wiggled his toes, rotating his ankles and feeling all the joints and muscles settling how they should be.
This was way too much, he couldn't... He tried to yank focus at the core still spluttering in his chest, sucking in air as the light danced over his fingertips, echoing in his toes and sucking the dark outfit and strange glow back into his ribs.
He gently prodded, then more forcefully when he could feel a rigid structure, bones and organs pushing back.
Danny brought his knees to his chest, letting his heart beat, letting his lungs expand with every breath, feeling the echo of a heartbeat even in his legs.
he was real.
He was alive
he was real.